Cambridge University Press

978-0-521-17490-9 - Berlin Express

Michael Austen
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Chapter 1 The past and the future

The train was really flying along now. The buildings, fields
and trees all seemed to race by. A bridge shot past the
window. Then a station. Hiro put his face nearer the glass
to see the name, but they were travelling so fast it was
impossible to read. Hiro wondered if they were travelling
faster than the Shinkansen, the world-famous Bullet Train
of Japan. He looked up at the small screen above the door,
which showed the speed – 294 kilometres per hour! He
watched the numbers as they slowly increased. 296 … 298
… All of a sudden, they were there: 301 kph! Well, that was
something exciting to tell …
And then it hit him all over again. Yes, but who would
he tell? If it had been a month ago – even two weeks – he
would have sent Akiko a text. But since their break-up she
didn’t want to hear from him. ‘Don’t send me any messages,
because I won’t reply,’ she had told him angrily. ‘If you’d
rather have a photo of Yuki than me on your phone, that’s
fine. Just don’t expect me to be your girlfriend any more!’
Hiro looked sadly out of the window again. Where were
they? He knew they’d left Belgium and were in Germany
now because he’d seen a sign just before the last station.
But what city came next? Was it Köln? In Köln, Hiro had
to change trains. He wondered if he should ask the middle-
aged woman sitting opposite. But just when he had decided
not to, the train flew past a village and the woman suddenly
spoke to him in English.
6

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-17490-9 - Berlin Express
Michael Austen
Excerpt
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‘Ha!’ she said. ‘There’s my village! I’ll be home in an hour.

It’s only ten minutes to Köln!’
Hiro smiled politely. The woman was a little bossy-
looking and never seemed to sit still.
‘But you are a long way from home …’ she went on. ‘Are
you Japanese?’
Hiro nodded. He didn’t feel much like chatting, but it
was clear the woman did. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but I’m studying in
England. I’m on a Study Year Abroad programme. This is
my summer holiday.’
‘Very good! And where are you going?’ she went on.
‘Berlin. I have an InterRail ticket,’ Hiro answered, then
seeing the confused look on her face, guessed he’d better
explain. ‘That means I can use my ticket to travel anywhere
in Europe. Berlin is my first stop.’
‘How exciting! But you’re travelling alone. That’s very
brave.’
Hiro paused. ‘My friends …’ he began. ‘My friends …
couldn’t come.’
‘Oh, that’s too bad,’ the woman answered. She was
about to say something else when her mobile phone rang.
She searched excitedly in her bag, then began a loud
conversation in German on her phone.
Hiro picked up his book. It was an American thriller –
he’d brought it with him to practise his English – and with
two violent murders already it was quite exciting. But Hiro
couldn’t read now. He thought sadly about what he’d just
told the woman. It wasn’t really the truth. The truth was
that he and Akiko had planned to have a holiday together,
but after their argument everything had changed. They’d
been so happy all the time they’d been together. She was on
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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-17490-9 - Berlin Express
Michael Austen
Excerpt
More information

the same course in England and they’d met in the first week.
And they’d never argued at all. So, then to get jealous about
a dog! That was just crazy!
Hiro reached into his pocket and took out his own
mobile phone. With one easy movement, he opened it and
watched the screen come to life. For a moment or two he
looked at his screensaver – the picture that appeared when
he turned on his phone. It was a photo of Yuki, his beautiful
twelve-year-old golden retriever, the most wonderful dog
in the world. Then he chose ‘My photos’ from the menu
on the side of the screen. Almost immediately, a picture of
Akiko appeared. It was his favourite photo of her – the one
at the restaurant where he’d taken her for her birthday. She
looked so happy and so pretty! Hiro shook his head and
quickly went back to the picture of the dog.
The argument had come out of nowhere. They’d been
planning a beach holiday in southern Spain. When he’d
invited his friends Ayumu and Daijiro and their girlfriends,
Akiko had seemed happy enough. But then something had
changed. He said he wished they could take Yuki as well,
and all of sudden Akiko had got angry. After that everything
Hiro said seemed to make her angrier. She’d started talking
about his screensaver, and the next thing he knew she was
shouting that she didn’t want to see him ever again. It was
just unbelievable. One moment he had a girlfriend, the next
he didn’t. Now, apparently, she’d gone off to Scotland with a
couple of her friends. But he wasn’t even sure of that. Their
eight-month relationship had just exploded like a bomb.
All of a sudden Hiro realised a tear was running down
his cheek. Angrily, he brushed it away. The woman opposite
was still talking loudly into her phone, so she hadn’t seen
8

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-17490-9 - Berlin Express
Michael Austen
Excerpt
More information

the tear. But this was no way for a twenty-year-old Japanese

man to behave. Hurriedly, he got out his InterRail map
and pretended to study it closely. He’d left London that
morning very early and taken the Eurostar to Brussels in
Belgium. From there he’d caught this train going to Köln,
and in Köln he would get the train to Berlin. But where
would he go after that? Prague, the capital of the Czech
Republic, was only five hours by train from Berlin. Then, he
could go to Vienna, maybe. If there was time he might even
get to Budapest. How many new countries would he visit
this trip? If he went to all those cities, it would make five!
Hiro began to feel more cheerful. He sat up and looked
out of the window again at the countryside flying past.
It seemed different and new all of a sudden. ‘Yes,’ Hiro
thought, ‘I will have an exciting and adventurous holiday.
I’m not going to be sad. From this moment, Akiko is part
of history. No more looking back; I will only look forward
from now on.’

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